Originally Posted by Sunset Poet
Rob is so one-sided, I'm not sure what realities he actually gets correct if any. He seems to be a Rachel Maddow-EU-German fan boy.

Marty,
please, I like you. You're a nice guy, but I hate it when you say things like that. Were you serious here? Is that what you think of me? Marty, really?

Forget the UE and Germany for a moment. Let me create an example that makes it easier for you to understand. Let’s assume there was a very small country with a population of just 100 people. This here is a songwriter forum, so let’s assume one of those 100 people was a very successful singer-songwriter, someone like Taylor Swift. That person sold tons of merchandise, downloads, CDs, etc. to fans in the USA. That would lead to a very uneven trade balance between the US and that small country. On the one side you have 340 million Americans downloading songs and buying merchandise and if I understand you correctly, now you want the US government to force the 100 people of that small country to buy so many US products to create an even trade balance. Sorry, but that won’t work. The example I described actually existed in the late 70s in Sweden. The group Abba made up for over 60% of Sweden’s GDP. I understand what you want but tariffs won't solve the problem.